He lay dark, almost in penury

[shootingstar]

Against the side post of the cabinet there leaned a gaudy umbrella, preserved there as a relic. It appears that when Pnkerton was about to place Thirteen Star upon the market, the rainy season was at hand. He lay dark, almost in penury, awaiting the first shower, at which, as upon a signal, the main thoroughfares became dotted with his agents, vendors of advertisements; and the whole world of San Francisco, from the business man fleeing for the ferry-boat, to the lady waiting at the corner for her car, sheltered itself under umbrellas with the strange device: Are you wet? Try Thirteen Star. "It was a mammoth boom," said Pinkerton, with a sigh of recollection.
(The Wrecker,1892, by R.L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, chapter vii, Irons In The Fire )

Please. could you tell my what He lay dark means?

 

[shootingstar]

Is there any reply out there? Please help.

 

[White Hat]

Find a German translation thereof (The Wrecker. 1892. dt. Der Ausschlachter. Ein Criminalroman. Neu übersetzt und mit einem Nachwort von Hanna Neves. dtv, München 1994, ISBN 3-423-02343-0 (seit 2012 u. d. T. Der Strandräuber. ISBN 978-3-423-14121-5.)). That should help.

According to the Russian version ("Он ждал, не имея за душой почти ни гроша ..."), "with almost no money in his pocket, he was awaiting the first shower (rain)". The 'lay dark' part seems to have been omitted altogether.

 

[shootingstar]

That doesn't help. I don't like any translations. I like to read English books in their original language.

 

[emsr2d2]

@White Hat I have undeleted your post #3. Please don't delete posts after people have responded to them.

 

[White Hat]

@White Hat I have undeleted your post #3. Please don't delete posts after people have responded to them.

If I were you, I would delete both Post 3 and Post 4. That would be fair. I respectfully request that you do that.